Yesterday's Aftermath
by Yakarin
Summary: Set at the end of Intervention and before the beginning of Aftermath, colonel Young and Rush have a conversation after Young realizes it was Rush's actions that saved Destiny and the crew.


_**Edit:** A big thank you to Yoyi-Yi for the advice and for the tip!_

_Well... this is officially my first fanfiction, I truly hope you like it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I tried hard to keep them in character, I hope I managed that, because I really love Rush. Any critique is welcomed. And comments, well, I'd love them!_

_At the end of Intervention I felt pretty disappointed that Young said nothing to Rush and then during Aftermath everything took its normal course... so, I decided to write a little one-shot about that missing conversation while trying not to go against the story. Hope you enjoy it!_

_Oh! As a note, I was thinking about "Yesterday was hard on all of us" from Fink while writing this, you might want to listen to it ;)_

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><p>Colonel Young knew this wasn't going to be easy, but it had to be done, after all, he had promised he'd make an extra effort, even with <em>him<em>. At last, he reached his destination and stood at the threshold of the door to the Observation Deck, looking at the man in question silently.

Rush was sitting in front of a table that held his handmade chessboard along with most of its pieces in place, lost in thought while looking absent mindedly at the beautiful show from the FTL lights; he couldn't remember the last time he had been able to sleep without being plagued by nightmares, first the aliens, now the torture… his left hand went instinctively to his chest.

Still at the threshold, even when Rush's face was almost completely covered by strands of light brown, Young noticed the furrow in his distinctive forehead and nose, he couldn't help but feel a rush of guilt when the scientist put his hand on his chest, cautiously, almost fearful. He seemed so fragile then. "_At least I owe him this", _he told himself, "_he was willing to risk his own life to protect Destiny, and I wasn't even able to believe that at the beginning"_, yet, could anyone truly blame him for not trusting Rush entirely? The man was a little too obsessed with the Ancients, he simply could never figure what was truly going on in his mind and alright, in the end he had given in… but he _had_ endured who knows how much torture from Kiva, and that was a lot to say from a civilian with such a lanky complexion.

With a shake of his head the colonel managed to pull all those mixed emotions to the back of his head and walked in not addressing him immediately, but instead looking at the view Rush had been absorbed in for a long time.

"Is it healing OK?" he said casually, turning his gaze to the sitting man that still kept his hand at his chest. Truth be told, he wasn't truly speaking about the doctor's physical injury, but another more complex, but invisible wound.

Rush came out of his thoughts slowly, like he had only acknowledged Young standing in front of his table. At first he seemed confused, until he realized where his hand had traveled unconsciously while his mind had been filling with dreading thoughts.

"Well, I suppose I can't complain" his intense brown gaze defied the military man before braking eye contact and taking a half shaped chess piece to continue carving it. "Now that it doesn't have an enemy device watching it's every move" he concluded with an acid note on his velvet voice. He had seen through Young's words and of course, he knew one of Eli's kinos had been officially assigned as his little spy after a certain incident. He was more than capable of keeping up with the word games if that was what the colonel wanted.

Young crossed his arms behind his back and looked aside feeling uncomfortable, maybe it was best to let it go and pretend like nothing had happened, at least he was good at doing that. But something in those tired, auburn eyes stopped him, Rush would never admit it, he was certain, but he could tell the man felt very lonely, probably miserable. Thus, he decided to try one last time, "_at least I owe this much to him",_ he repeated to himself, so he put his most stoical expression and began.

"Look… Lt. Scott told me you were mostly the one responsible for what went on in the ship while we were gone…"

Rush stopped carving to look at him with an exasperated expression, getting ready to speak up and justify his actions, when colonel Young raised his hand to stop him.

"Well done, Rush …you acted like a true commander" concluded the man lowering his voice with a faint smile.

The scientist was used to colonel Young yelling at him, being annoying, but this, he wasn't used to. He wasn't used to any praise, not from him, not from anyone, really. He shifted uneasily, playing with the chess piece on his hands and without looking up he answered curtly.

"I was only thinking about the greater good" he tried to say dismissively, but his voice came out in a more caustic tone than he had intended. He was very edgy lately, he knew it, but it was hard to help it when he was practically getting no sleep at all.

Young had tried his best, he wasn't particularly good at dealing with people's emotions, but this particular man… he couldn't figure at all, not mentally, less emotionally.

"Well, an acknowledgement is in order anyway, without your help who knows what would have happened to Destiny… and the crew would have probably died on that planet… I would have died" he hesitated a little before nodding and turning to leave.

Something in the colonel's frankness made Rush look up intently at the man walking away, yes, he had been left behind, he had been tortured, he couldn't help but blame him for those things, at least to some extent, but _yesterday _had been hard on all of them, he could see Young's pain in his lowered shoulders, he had lost men, lieutenant Johansen had lost her baby. Suddenly, Gloria's words resounded on his heart _"__Don't let what happened to me change you this way. It's nobody's fault_". He felt his gut shrink with that thought and decided to make an effort, at least this once, for Gloria. For the colonel.

"No matter… after all…" he started, causing the colonel to stop "I'd rather be under the command of a hard headed colonel than under Kiva's command" he tried to say casually, but his voice came out almost inaudibly, only strong enough for Young to catch it.

The military man's back remained facing Rush, but he could see the way his shoulders had lifted as well as his head.

"Well… that's good to know… thank you, Dr. Rush" said Young after a chuckle, Rush could hear a smile forming in his features and he allowed himself to smile as well, Young had never bothered to call him "doctor" before.

The colonel was ready to renewed his steps when Rush startled him once more.

"Besides…" the small man said hesitantly, momentarily looking at the finished chess piece in his hand and then looking back at where colonel Young was standing, waiting for him to look back and lock eyes with him. "…if we didn't came back for the crew, I would have had Destiny all to myself… but I would have lost a chess partner, wouldn't I?" he finished while stretching his arm across the board to put the last chess piece on place, the white King, while slowly, almost awkwardly, his lips curved to his left cheek on a half-smile, no cynicism nor annoyance, just a smile.

This time the green eyed man was the one caught off guard, he thought he might have imagined it, but Rush had appeared to nod slightly at him while depositing the King in its rightful place. The man in front of him was probably the most difficult person he had ever known, but was also the most intriguing and brilliant mind he had met, a worthwhile ally perhaps... although he would never admit that aloud. With a more relaxed chuckle he shook his head and headed towards the chair to join Rush into their game of chess. Be it on a board or inside this ship.

That day Young earned forgiveness and Rush earned a chess partner, at least until their next disagreement, but for that little moment, they'd just be, because for good or for worse, their paths, they had crossed.

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><p><strong>AN: Well, that's it, do tell me what you think!**


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